Challenges

KOKUYO, under a core strategy to support society with innovative products, operates three main businesses: a stationary and PC-product business, an e-commerce site for office supplies called Kaunet, and a furniture business serving offices, educational institutions and medical facilities. The furniture business, beyond supplying necessary tools for customers, provides consulting on the design of workspaces suited to each customer's unique working style.

"We support customers in multiple ways to help them achieve innovation in their work and communication styles, including providing smart devices for remote work," says Mr. Suzuki Kenichi, Consulting Director of KOKUYO's Solution Department.

KOKUYO has always been a company that looks beyond the mere provision of office furniture, aiming to facilitate innovative ways to do business. For example, in 1997, it was an early adopter of office designs incorporating shared workspaces. Since then, it has been introducing new approaches, such as adopting mobile devices to make efficient use of idle time in the schedules of remote workers, as well as leveraging other communication tools to enhance collaboration.

Mr. Suzuki says KOKUYO is rapidly expanding its business outside Japan. "We aim to increase our overseas revenue ratio to 30% as our next goal for expansion. But to achieve this, we need to effectively communicate and share knowledge with overseas."

A drastic network overhaul was required for the company. Network traffic had been rapidly increasing, causing network costs to balloon." The bandwidth issue was caused by an increasing number of virtualized servers centralized in a data center, which led our network reaching its limit," says Mr. Jun Benki, head of the Infrastructure Planning Group in KOKUYO's Information Systems Division.

The company decided it had to build a new network to solve these issues, as well as to support its global expansion and promote state-of-the art working styles.

Solution

Reliability, low cost and scalability of Network to support global deployment

KOKUYO received proposals from various telecoms and IT service providers for their new network and then evaluated not only for their reliability and stability, but also running and migration costs, and the ability to manage the massive project of connecting KOKUYO's more than 300 offices. After careful assessment, it chose Arcstar Universal One service of NTT Communications (NTT Com).

"In addition to the quality of its service and support, another important factor in choosing NTT Com was that we could get their support in every overseas office that we deploy." says Mr. Benki.

In constructing the network, NTT Com offered flexible network access solutions according to the needs of each office to achieve the best return on investment.

For data centers that require maximum reliability for network connectivity, Premium Grade service ensures 100% guaranteed bandwidth for main and backup circuits. Business Grade service is utilized for important locations, such as head office and distribution centers, while midsize offices use Standard Grade and smaller offices use the highly economical Light Grade, which is based on consumer broadband network service.

Benefits

Smooth network delivery to new offices with standardized policy

KOKUYO completed the migration to Arcstar Universal One in more than 100 offices, thereby raising the level of innovation in these locations. For example, even in small offices with a narrow bandwidth of just 1-2 Mbps, employees now have smooth access to video conferencing.

KOKUYO completed the migration to Arcstar Universal One in more than 100 offices, thereby raising the level of innovation in these locations. For example, even in small offices with a narrow bandwidth of just 1-2 Mbps, employees now have smooth access to video conferencing.

During the network implementation, a Wi-Fi network in its downtown Tokyo office was also installed by NTT Com upon request from KOKUYO for over 1,000 salespersons who are using tablets.

Meanwhile, the new network had driven KOKUYO's server integration project, which aims to reduce the number of physical server by 40% using virtualization technology.

Previously, it was a time-consuming to evaluate data traffic flow to decide server locations from local office. With its flexible new network, however, the company can rapidly consolidate servers.

"Additionally, standardized network-management processes have been very beneficial. When we set up a new office, it can be connected without having to worry about complex network design. As we expand into global market, this is quite an important factor," says Mr. Benki.

In Summary, KOKUYO now has a network that allows it to develop new working styles and share its knowledge of innovative office solutions based on the company's own experience and achievement.

"It's important not just to raise productivity, but also to consider why we are pursuing innovation. Speed is the key. Our employees can make decisions anytime, anywhere to respond to customers quickly. Our new integrated network platform is a big step toward enhanced innovation. Through our strong partnership with NTT Com, we will continue to develop innovative work styles, creating new ideas for customer's business growth.